If you qualify for Questbridge, that is a fabulous opportunity. I see you are applying for a FA waiver. Has your mo had any contact with your dad?
Here is my opinionâŠyou need to find two sure things for admission, that you like, that are affordable. Find those first. Once you have those, go ahead and apply to any reach schools or wherever.
Please keep in mind that itâs not JUST the application costs. Some of these colleges require the CSS Profile, and thatâs not free (waivers are available, but Iâm not sure how many). And you will need to send your SAT or ACT scores to all of these schools, and only so many are free.
Also, time is money. You will need to have sufficient time to complete these applications well.
Choose your Questbridge schools wisely.
Nope, none since the divorce which happened when I was only two years old. I donât remember the guy at all. By court, he doesnât have to pay anything and he canât contact us. He canât go to the office and pick me up from school, if that makes sense.
Will I have to pay for the CSS profile for each school as well?
@Mwfan1921 what is the cost for submitting the CSS Profile, and the SAT or ACT scoresâŠand are there waivers for these costs?
After entering all the financial information, the CSS profile will automatically give the student a fee waiver if they qualify. Also, if the student used a fee waiver to take the SAT in the first place, sending the scores to colleges should be free. I donât know if a score fees can be waived if the student originally paid to sit the SAT.
Iâd assume qb sends the financials but if OP applies to non QB CSS schools too.. see attached.
Most - not all schools - let you self report SAT til you commit. But if not Iâm guessing thereâs help there too.
OP qualifies for a CSS Profile waiver because their family income is less than $100K (thereâs no asset test.) If one has to pay, CSS is $25 for the first school, $16 for each school after that.
If OP becomes a QB finalist, they will have to send CSS Profile to every school they ranked. And the NCP waiver request. If OP does not become a finalist, they will have to send CSS Profile and the NCP waiver request to each school they apply to that requires CSS, whether they apply thru QB or not.
OP has to check what the application requirements are for each school on their list, whether QB or not, to see if they require official test scores. Many schools allow self-reporting of test scores.
If OP qualified for test fee waivers they will qualify for the following free score sends:
-For SAT, one can get up to 4 addition free score sends (after the initial 4 selected at registration.)
-For ACT, one can send up to 6 free official score reports.
OPâs HS counselor is the gatekeeper for ACT/SAT waivers, so they should speak with them.
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Some comments:
Bear in mind that Princeton gets overwhelmed with New Jersey applicants. Itâs ultra hard for anyone. Even harder for NJ residents. NJ floods the Ivies and Northeastern schools with applicants. Donât count schools with that level of difficulty as schools on your list. If you ultimately have 12 schools plus Harvard, Stanford and Princeton on your list, act as if you are applying to 12 schools, not 15.
Getting stuck in a random LAC is like being given a new Ferrari for free and feeling like youâre getting a used ford with lots of payments. Those are fantastic schools and, having gone through the CVâs of countless physicians, I noticed a trend: They went to prestigious private schools, an equal amount of liberal arts colleges or private universities, or state flagships. A huge portion went to prestigious liberal arts colleges (probably in the top 50 or so when it comes to prestige on these liberal arts colleges). Admissions offices know the Liberal Arts Colleges and respect them.
Considering that you have an EFC of zero, I would recommend that you target schools that meet full need and are need blind and are slightly easier to get into than the Ivies and Amherst and Williams. One that comes to mind right away is Hamilton. Excellent financial aid, and they at least used to ignore home equity (check to see if that is changed). If you get in there, you would go for a pittance - probably under $10K, but run the Net Price Calculator. Itâs still not a slam dunk for admissions by any means.
If theyâre need blind, they wonât discriminate against you because you need so much money. Some meet full need/ need aware schools will reject you even if you would normally be acceptable because they can only allow in so many that have such high financial aid requirements.
The next step would be to add in some need blind / need aware schools where you are well above average.
Then identify some schools that will give you merit scholarships.
Also consider some schools that are located far away, where there wonât be a barrel full of NJ applicants. Whitman in Wall Walla, WA, is another very well-endowed liberal arts college that has about a 50% acceptance rate and an excellent reputation. They are need aware, however, but thatâs the kind of school that Iâd recommend considering anyway (way better than paying half of costs to go to Rutgers - your goal should be to find a place that will cost you less than Rutgers, unless Rutgers gives you a full ride).
If after youâve identified and gotten your applications in to these, you can consider some of the other extremely difficult schools for admissions, but I wouldnât start with those. Your first goal should be getting into the best school that will accept you without making you pay very much.
Please donât make the line stop at the US News Top 20 universities. No medical school cares about US News rankings.
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This.
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Additional Notes:
Best I have been able to determine, Hamilton still doesnât include home equity in their financial need calculation. One reason I brought it up is that I know someone with financial resources greater than yours who went there for $12,000 a year about 6 years ago. Thatâs a hell of a deal.
I also just looked up Whitman College, and they have 3 NJ residents out of 1500 at their school, and although it would be better if you were from NH, from where they have none, you wonât be competing with the countless NJ applicants like you would at Northeastern schools, including all of the Ivies (Stanford gets tons from the NYC metro area, as well).
You may want prestige, but to go back to the Ferrari metaphor, youâre looking for the collectible Rolls Royce for free when you canât even afford a broken down car. Spread far and look under rocks for good options, and there are many good options out there â find one that is affordable and good.
Good luck.
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That 45-minute drive home at 4AM when you have to be back at 8AM is not something youâll like doing every day - and that will not be unusual. Many have commuted, but more often in cities where a bus driver or train conductor is doing the driving and they can do some work or sleep on the way home. And almost all do that out of absolute necessity. If you can be on campus, do so.
Another Note: It appears that Hamilton has changed their financial aid formula for home equity, and now includes it, although it is capped, per this web page. This has been a fairly recent change.
This is why you have to run those NPCâs for every school.
I had a clarifying conversation with my grandfather today regarding my family of 2âs financial situation (my mom and I). He shared that he, along with my uncle and a portion from my mom, contributed funds so that my uncle could purchase our current 1/2 duplex in full cash on a structured plan. According to him, the house will be completely paid off under my uncleâs name within the next two years.
He also told me that my mom earns around $4,000 per month. She doesnât have any assets under her name aside from a 401(k), which he mentioned isnât very substantial. This conversation really helped me get a clearer picture of our financial situation.
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Who owns the house - your uncle or your mother? If the house is under your uncleâs name, your mother has zero dollars in home equity.
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The home is under my uncles name, which I discovered today.
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Ok, then you have your answer. Your mother has an income of $4,000 a month, a small 401K and no home equity. I believe that some of the financial aid forms will ask how much rent you pay, but I think that the wealthy private schools will still come up with an EFC of $0. You can run the calculators.
Try to get every waiver you can qualify for, especially application fees.
My thoughts are that your best shots will be going to a well-endowed private schools, sub Ivy, that is need blind. The need aware, full need schools where you will look like an attractive student to them should also be considered, as should the honors colleges (usually at state schools) that give out significant aid, and the schools that give merit scholarships. Look far and wide. If you really feel that you need to be close to Mom, you might decide it is better to commute to Rutgers over going away to the West Coast or Iowa, but make that decision when you need to (When it is not necessary t make a decision, it is necessary not to make a decision).
I hate to tell you this but the more I read about your grades, the less I think that the Ivies are schools that I would recommend to you. If you get a fee waiver and have the other bases covered (everything else I and the other posters have mentioned, then consider applying to them, but that would be last on the priority list that I would recommend to you if you lived next door to you).
You being 15 minutes from Rutgers makes that a solid safety, because that is not an unreasonable commute. You still need more safeties than that one. Rutgers is a good state school, and youâre lucky enough to be close by. Rutgers is far from being Northwest Nowhere State College.
I still wish you the best.
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What do you think about Northwestern or UChicago?
Some schools will reject highly-qualified or seemingly overqualified applicants that they fear will go elsewhere for yield protection.
Not all. The highly-selective liberal arts colleges are the most likely to turn down someone who shows no demonstrated interest and merely applies on the Common Application.
But for those who do, you have to show demonstrated interest. That means visit if you can. If you canât visit, meet with the admissions officer when they visit your area. Sign up for an interview with admissions or an alum, open all of the emails (they track that, and reports are that they track how often you log in to their admissions portal) and stay in touch with admissions, sending them updates if you have something happen, and do it in a way that doesnât make it seem formulaic.
If this sounds like it is a lot of work, itâs only because it is. Itâs way easier than paying back $50,000 or $100,000 in loans, which you canât take out anyway without someone signing for them. And if Rutgers is a school that you dread (it shouldnât be), you will have other options.
I think showing extensive interest to UChicago and Northwestern will pay dividends for me